Timing and sound in musical microrhythm

Research on rhythm and timing in music has largely treated rhythm as a relationship between points in time without extension and sonic qualities. This is partly related to the fact that Western music notation represents rhythm in this way. In practice, however, all rhythm sequences will consist of sounds of different duration, intensity and timbre, in short of sounds with different acoustic properties. What these properties mean for how we perceive the timing of sounds, and consequently also the overall rhythmic pattern, is not properly investigated. We neither know how cultural background and training may influence auditory perception in general. The aim of the TIME project: Timing and Sound in Musical Microrhythm (2017-2022) was to provide insights into the ways in which features of sound influence our perception of timing at the micro level of music and, moreover, how this may vary with music-cultural training and background. To this end the project combined aesthetic, psychological and cultural perspectives in a study of different musical genres in which rhythm is a key aesthetic marker: jazz, electronic dance music (EDM), contemporary R&B/hip-hop, samba and traditional Scandinavian fiddle music (a fifth genre – samba – was added along the way). The project has carried out (a) ethnographic studies of how musicians describe microrhythms, (b) observational studies of how microrhythms are perceived and produced, and (c) experimental studies of how microrhythms are affected by acoustic factors and the listener's/musician's expertise and musical-cultural background. The results show that the design of the sound's onset and duration is critical for how we perceive its location in time, and that the sound's intensity and timbre are also important in a musical context. The findings have been replicated in several studies. In the qualitative part of the project, interviews and analysis of music showed that musicians are aware of these effects and take them into account when they play and make music. Also when asking drummers, bassists and guitarists to play early or late relative to a reference, the acoustic features of the produced sounds change. Furthermore, playing with a specific "timing" profile, such as early or laidback in relation to the beat, for example, changes the movement pattern and posture of the musicians. We have also studied neurophysiological mechanisms related to changes in sensitivity to time location. The fact that the results go in the same direction across genres and methodological approaches suggests that basic sensory-motor mechanisms is at work. At the same time, both interviews and experimental studies show that music-cultural expertise modulates the effects of acoustic factors, especially when the sounds presented give associations to the listener’s own music culture. In addition, we have studied the microrhythmic characteristics of each genre and published articles and book chapters on EDM, folk music, samba, jazz and hip-hop, as well as a PhD on hip-hop. The project has also contributed to theory development in the field of music-dance, i.e. genres where music and dance have developed in mutual dependence (Norwegian folk music and samba are examples of this). Method development has not been an explicit goal in the project but was necessary as part of the research processes described above, among other things to obtain high enough precision in automatic analyses of the audio material. The project shows the importance of cross-cultural research that employs multiple methodologies (interviews, perception and synchronization experiments, manual and automatic analysis of music and sound, etc.) for untangling the complexity of musical microrhythms, as well as sound perception in general.

TIME-prosjektets resultater har allerede hatt betydning for hvordan det forskes på rytme i musikk. Det er nå en økende forståelse for at man må ta i betraktning et mye bredere spekter av akustiske faktorer enn bare når lyden starter, når man undersøker musikalsk mikrorytmikk og persipert tidsplassering både i musikk og lydpersepsjon mer generelt. Det er også en økende forståelse for betydningen av musikalsk-kulturell eksponering og trening og at hva man oppfatter som «korrekt» tidsplassering varierer med musikalsk stil og lytterens kulturelle bakgrunn. Et sentralt poeng her er at denne variasjonen ikke bare handler om preferanser som man potensielt kan velge bort, men påvirker persepsjonen på et helt grunnleggende nivå (man kan ikke høre det annerledes). Disse innsiktene kan også være verdifulle for utøvende og skapende praksis, samt pedagogisk virksomhet i musikkfeltet på alle nivåer. Innsiktene kan videre være av betydning for forståelsen av estetikken i rytmiske musikksjangre hos offentlige myndigheter, organisasjoner, musikkbransjen og andre involverte aktører, samt publikum i sin alminnelighet. I denne sammenheng kan det nevnes at rytmiske, eller såkalte groove-orienterte, musikksjangre er en vekstbransje nasjonalt og internasjonalt og at publikumsinteressen er stor.

This project investigates the impact of sound-related features on the perception of temporal relationships in music performance and perception. Its main hypothesis is that musical-cultural experiences are perceptually formative--that they make an imprint not only on how we understand and assess sensory information but also on perceptual mechanisms in the individual at the most basic level. The overall research question of the project, then, is as follows: How do features of sound and timing interact at the micro level of auditory perception? More specifically, we ask, first, how sound-related features influence temporal placement in music, and secondly, to what extent is the perception of temporal relationships at the micro level of music dependent on musical-cultural background and training? We focus on four musical genre cultures in which rhythm is variably constituted as a key aesthetic marker: jazz, electronic dance music (EDM), contemporary R&B/hip-hop, and traditional Scandinavian fiddle music. Through the present project, we expect to gain new empirical and theoretical knowledge about (1) the four musical genres in question, (2) the interaction between temporal and sound-related features in auditory perception in general, and (3) the specific role of cultural variation in this regard. By looking at the extent to which the perception of temporal relationships at the micro level of music is dependent on training and musical-cultural background, we also engage with the current debates regarding the relationship between perception and culture, and the question of primacy therein.